This invention relates to an attachment device for backhoe machines. Backhoes are excavating machines having a scoop or bucket pivotally attached to a movable boom. In excavating, the bucket is drawn toward the machine by boom movement. Backhoes are particularly useful in digging trenches for various purposes such as for pipe laying. In the case of pipe laying, it is frequently required that sand or other select material be placed in the bottom of the trench for bedding the pipe. After the pipe is laid to grade, it is covered with the sand or select material. Sand and other select material must usually be purchased and hauled to the work site. This is expensive, and the material must be evenly distributed and used as efficiently as possible without waste. After covering the pipe with sand or the like, the trench is then backfilled with the excavated dirt by a dozer, front end loader or the like.
Even so, it has been a standard practice to use a front end loader and a backhoe not only for refilling trenches but for placing sand and other select material as well. In such instances, the front end loader is used to fill the backhoe bucket with the select material, such as sand, gravel, or the like. The backhoe then distributes the load in the trench. As noted above, this practice has several drawbacks, a primary one of which lies in the uneven distribution of the material being dumped into the trench by the backhoe. This necessitates a certain amount of manual labor in achieving a final even distribution of the filling material in the trench. Another drawback is the unnecessary use of select material; i.e., due to poor distribution thereof.
It is an object of the invention to provide a skip attachment device for backhoes which uses a novel arrangement for securing the device to the backhoe bucket.
It is another object of the invention to provide a backhoe skip attachment for use in ditching operations and the like which substantially eliminates the need for excessive manual labor as has been heretofore required in obtaining even distribution of a filling material.
Another object of the invention is to increase the load carrying capacity of a backhoe for filling and distributing purposes and to improve the control over the flow rate of the filling material as it is dumped by the backhoe thus achieving a more even distribution upon dumping.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent to those familiar with this art upon consideration of the following description and the accompanying drawings.